Oscar predictions

King's Speech & Social Network duke it out for the Oscars

"The Social Network"
"The King's Speech"
Natalie Portman in "The Black Swan"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"

Attention Oscar handicappers: As of early Tuesday morning, the preliminaries are over, and the heavy-duty prognosticating has begun for the 83rd annual Academy Awards.

As many predicted, the main event is shaping up as a down-to-the wire race between The King’s Speech (leader of the pack with 12 nominations overall) and The Social Network (eight nominations).

After nabbing top honors from several film critics’ organizations (including H-Town’s very own Houston Film Critics Society) and a Golden Globe, Network – David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s fleet, flashy and fiercely funny drama about the founding of Facebook -- is widely viewed as the front runner for Best Picture.

But King’s Speech – the true-life story of King George IV’s determined efforts to overcome his stammer and lead England during a time of crisis – is heading into the home stretch with the cachet of being the sort of old-fashioned and uplifting period piece traditionally beloved by older Academy voters. And it doesn’t hurt at all that Harvey Weinstein – the same irrepressible impresario who masterminded the upset of Shakespeare in Love over seemingly prohibitive fave Saving Private Ryan a decade ago – is behind the Oscar campaign for this Brit production as well.

What happens if these two acclaimed nominees cancel each other out in a generation-gap steel-cage grudge match? Well, this being the second consecutive year that the Motion Picture Academy has expanded the list of Best Picture finalists to ten titles, there are eight other films that could benefit from a split vote. (Very, very nice to see the worthy indie Winter’s Bone in this Top 10.)

As I noted last year: If you doubt that a true underdog could ever triumph over more heavily hyped competitors in this category, go talk to the makers of Reds and On Golden Pond, the “sure things” that lost the gold to Chariots of Fire back in 1982.

Already, some veteran Oscar soothsayers – David Poland of Movie City News being only the most prominent – have suggested that True Grit has the right stuff to emerge as a kinda-sorta compromise winner.

To be honest, this strikes me a more than a little unlikely. In fact, if there really is an upset, I think it’s far more plausible that Christopher Nolan’s eye-popping, brain-teasing Inception would score a surprise win.

But, hey, if you would have asked me yesterday to predict the five finalists for Best Actor, I would have told you to bet the farm and all the cows and chickens living there on Robert Duvall’s being a major contender, if not the sentimental favorite, for his career-highlight performance in Get Low. As it turns out, however, he didn’t make the final cut. So go figure.

With that in mind, you may wish to apply a grain or two of salt to my early line Oscar predictions:

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in Biutiful
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
James Franco in 127 Hours

Likely Winner: Colin Firth
Possible upset: Jesse Eisenberg
Conspicuous by his absence: Robert Duvall in Get Low

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine

Likely Winner: Annette Bening 
Possible upset: Natalie Portman 
Conspicuous by her absence: Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right

Actor in a Supporting Role 

Christian Bale in The Fighter
John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner in The Town
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech

Likely Winner: Christian Bale 
Possible upset: Geoffrey Rush
Conspicuous by his absence: Andrew Garfield in The Social Network

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 

Amy Adams in The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech
Melisa Leo in The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit
Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom

Likely Winner: Melissa Leo
Possible upset: Hailee Steinfeld
Conspicuous by her absence: Mila Kunis in Black Swan

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours -- Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network -- Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 -- Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit -- Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone -- Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Mortal lock: The Social Network

Original Screenplay 

Another Year -- Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter -- Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception -- Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right -- Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech -- Screenplay by David Seidler

Likely Winner: The King’s Speech
Possible upset: The Kids Are All Right
Possible consolation prize: Inception

Director 

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Likely Winner: David Fincher
Possible upset: Tom Hooper (but only if there’s a King’s Speech sweep)
Conspicuous by his absence: Christopher Nolan for Inception

Best Picture

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Too close to call:The King’s Speech or The Social Network

unspecified

Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features

Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

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The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme